Safety apparatus for mine-hoists.



D F. LEPLEY. V SAFETY mPARATus FOR MINE HOISTS.

APRLlCATh. FI LED SEPT.28, 19.14-

Paten ted May16,1916.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 1- Witnesses Attorneys 0. Fl. LEP LEY. SAFETY APPARATUS FOR MINE HOISTS. v APPLIVCATION FILED sEPT.28, 19 14 1,183,306. Patented May 16, 1916, 5 sums-swan 2.

Attorneys m hw Witnesses D. F. LEPLEY.

SAFETY APPARATUS FOR MINE HOISTS.

APPLICATIONFILED SEPT.28, 19,14.

1 ,1 83,306. Patented May 16, 1916.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

n. F. LEPLEY. SAFETY APPARATUS FOR MINE .HOISTS.

1,1 83,306. Patented May 16, 1916.

5 SHEFTS-SHEET 4.

APPLICATION FILED SEPTJB, 1914.

Attorneys 0 n. F LEPLEY. SAFETY AEPARATUS FOR MINE H'OISTS. APPLICATION man SEPT-2811.914. 1,1 83,306, Patented May16, 1916.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

1 Witnesses ventor Attorneys.

DANIEL F. LEPLEY, OF CONNELLSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

SAFETY APPARATUS FOR MINE-HOISTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

llatented Illa y i G. iiliti.

Application filed September 28, 1914. Serial No. 863,972.'

To all whom it may concern:

lie it known that I. DANIEL F. LnrLnY, a citizen of the United States. residing at Connellsville. in the county of Fayette and State of Pennsylvania. have invented a ne and useful Safety Apparatus for Minelloists. of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to safety appara tus for hoisting engines such as used with mine cages and like devices.

As is well known, it is the practice. especially where the shafts of mines are of considerable depth. to lift and to lower the cages at very high speeds. thus to expedite the output. It has been found that without the use of some automatic stoppingmeans, the hoist operator. in spite of the utmost care on his part, will at times cause the hoisting cable to overwind. If the cage should. at the time. be occupied by any one. severe injury would be the result or, should the overwiinling of the cable take place while hoisting coal or other material, injury to the hoist equipment would occur. Furthermore during the descent of the cage, injury to the occupants thereof has often resulted from the cage coming too suddenly into contact with the bottom of the shaft.

Various safety devices have been devised heretofore with a view to allowing the cages to travel at high speeds but to come to gradual stops at the limits of their movements. thus to prevent injury either to the occupants or to the equipment. For example, one form of apparatus for this purpose has been disclosed in Patent No. 949,023, issued to me on February 15, 1910.

)ne of the objects of the present invention is to provide improved means wherebyv when a cage has been brought to a predetermined position at either end of a shaft. a brake will be applied automatically, and the brake and reverse levers used for the manual control of the mechanism will be shifted automatically to neutral positions. p

A further object is to provide novel means for locking the brake and reverse controlling valves in the positions to which they are shifted during the movement of their controlling levers to neutral positions. there being means cooperating with the levers for holding said levers against movement in the wrong direction after the cage has reached either predeternnned limit of its movement.

ll'ith the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds. the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed. it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed. can be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention. V

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings: Figure 1 is a plan view f the apparatus constituting the present invention, the hoisting engines being shown diagrammatically. Fig. 2 is a section on line .-\B Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on line CD Fig. 1. Fig. 4. is a section on line E-F Fig. Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevation of a lever shifting rod and adjacent parts. Fig. 6 is an end view of the rod and adjacent parts. Fig 7 is a plan view of a portion of the brake mechanism used in connection with the apparatus. Fig. 8 is a side elevation thereof, the dash pot being shown in section and the steam cylinder being shown partly in elevation and partly in section. Fig. 9 is a section on line GH Fig. 8. Fig. 10 is a section on line IJ Fig. 7. Fig. 11 is an elevation of the eccentric used in connection with the brake band. Fig. 12 is a section on line K-li Fig. 11. Fig. 13 is an enlarged view partly in end elevation and partly in section show ing the levers and their connections. Fig. 114 is a view similar to Fig. 8 but showing the structure used in connection with the reversing mechanism.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference 1 designates the shaft on which is secured a double winding drum 2 of the usual type and around which pass hoisting cables 3. running in opposite directions 100 and adapted to be connected to two mine cages respectively whereby during the elevation of one cage, the other cage will be caused to descend. Shaft 1 is provided at each end,

with a crank disk 4 and each of these disks 105 is connected to the piston of an engine 5.

. 1 i l l In the structure shown, one of the winding drums 2 is formed with an integral brake wheel .6 provided with side flanges 7 as shown, thi Wheel being adapted to be engaged by upper and lower flexible brake bands 8. Each band is provided at one end with a strap 9 for engagement with one of a pair of eccentrics 10 which are oppositely disposed upon a shaft 11 from which extends an arm 12. This arm is connected by a rod 13 to a take-up lever 14. located where it can be easily manipulated by the hoist operator. Thus it will be seen that by manipulating lever 14, the eccentrics 10 can be shifted so a to draw the adjacent ends of the bands 8 toward each other, thus tocompensate for any wear upon the bands or upon the brake wheel and allow the proper degree of retardation to be effected at the proper time. This lever '14 has a quadrant 1 1 the'notches of which are as close together as possible so that any desired degree of adjustment can be maintained. The other end of each of the bands 8 is connected to one end of a centrally fulcrumed lever 15 from which depends an arm 16, the parts being so positioned relative to each other that when the arm 16 is swung in one direction, the lever 15 will pull upon the bands 8 and cause them to bind on the wheel 6 whereas, when said arm 16 is moved in the opposite'direction, the gripping action of the bands will cease and wheel 6 will be free to rotate between the bands.

Arm 16 has a laterally extending pin 17 which is slidably mounted within a slot 18 formed within a piston rod 19. This piston rod extends from a piston 20 mounted for reciprocation within the steam cylinder 22 of an auxiliary engine forming a part of the brake mechanism which has been shown generally in Figs. 7 and 8. This engine includes a dash pot 21, valves 23 and 23 and link connections 24 between the valves. This structure constitutes no part of the present invention in o far as its specific contruction is concerned. It is suflicient to state that when steam is admitted to one side of the piston 20, said piston is shifted longitudinally, thus to throw arm 16 in one direction to loosen the bands 8 and, when the piston 20 is shifted in the opposite direction, arm 16 i released and wheel 6 permitted to r0- tate freely. When the valve 23 is opened by any means whatsoever to admit steam for the movement of the piston 20 in either direc tion, the valve 23 in cylinder 21 also opens to permit the oil contained in the dash pot to flow through the port 21 from one end of the cylinder to the other to permit the movement of the piston, but as soon as the steam vah'e is closed, bringing the piston 20 to a stop in cylinder 22, the valve 23 in cylinder 21 also closes and blank the ports 21 to prevent oil from flowing through as before, thus locking the piston against movement in. either direction, due to the fact that oil is not compressible.

The upstanding lever 25 of the brake mechanism shown in Figs. 7 and 8 is connected, by a link 26, to the long arm 27 of a bell crank lever 28, this bell crank lever having a short arm 29 connected, by means of a rod 30 to the lower end of a crank arm 30 ar ranged at one end of a transverse shaft 31 to the other end of which is secured a brake lever 31 which, as shown particularly in Fig. 2, is provided with a dog 32 adapted to slidably engage a segment 33 which is parallel with the path of movement of the lever 31 and which has a central notch 35 for receiving the dog when the lever is in its neutral position. The dog cannot be removed from notch 35 unless lifted by the operator. The lower arm of the lever 31 and to which the rod 30 is attached, has an eye 36 which tapers downwardly as shown.

A reverse lever 37 is mounted at one side of the brake lever 31, the two levers being adapted to swing about the same transverse.

axis. The lever 37 is provided with a notched segment 38 similar to the segment 33 and which cooperates with a dog 39 on the lever for holding said lever in neutral position, said lever being free to shift from either end position to the neutral position but being held in its neutral position until the dog is disengaged from the segment by the opera tor.

As shown particularly in Fig. .13 the various levers are lined up by securing lever 37 to a sleeve 41 mounted for rotation on the shaft 31, and by mounting the take-up lever 14 for Sleeve 41 has an arm 42 extending radially therefrom and connected, by a rod 43, to mechanism such as illustrated in detail in ig; 14. This mechanism is similar to that shown in Fig. 8 with the exception that the links 26 and 27 are dispensed with and the rod 13 is pivotally connected to a lever 73 corresponding with the lever 25. y In Fig. 14 the dash pot has been indicated at 74:, the steam cylinder at 75 and the pistons in the dash pot and steam cylinder have been indicated at 76 and 77 respectively. WVhen the lever 37 is in its neutral position, the pistons 76 and 77 are in the neutral positions shown in Fig. 14: while the valves control ling said pistons are closed. lVhen, however, lever 37 is shifted from neutral position toward either of its end positions, the

valve controlling pistons 76 and 77 will be opened one way or the other, thus to apply fluid under pressure to one side or the other of' thepiston 77 and also permit circulation of the oil in the dash pot to permit move ment of the pistons. The slow circulation of the oil in the dash' pot will retard the act-ion of the two pistons so that when the rotation on the shaft 31'.'

lever 37 is shifted away from its neutral position to reverse the engine, the action of the reversing mechanism will be gradual.

Swiveled upon one side of the lower arm of each lever 31 and 37 is an eye 43 and slid-ably mounted within each eye is a shifting rod 44-, each eye being interposed between coiled springs 45 which are mounted on the rod and bear against'adjustable col w lars 4-6. The two rods 44 are parallel and are pivotally connected to a rack bar 17 which bears downwardly on and constantly meshes with a gear 43 secured to a transverse shaft 49. Another gear 50 is secured 5 to the shaft -19 and receives motion through i a gear 51 from a shaft 52 to which a sprocket is secured. This sprocket is driven by a chain 54: from a sprocket 55 secured to the shaft 1. Thus it will be seen that during the rotation of the winding drums in one direction, the racl' bar +17 is slowly moved longitudinally in one direction, thereby causing the rods 14: to slide within the eyes 13 until one of the springs on each rod comes into contact with the eye whereupon the levers will be shifted from their active to their neutral positions. The same operation is true when the drums are rotating in the opposite direction.

A bar 56 is pivotally mounted adjacent and extends between the lower arms of the levers 31 and 37 and has a transversely extending pin 57 which extends loosely into the eyes 36 in the two levers. This bar is pivotally connected to an upwardly extendin rod 53 slidably mounted within a tubu ar post or standard 59 and adapted to be engaged by a weighted catch 60 such as shown in Patent No, 919,023, issued to me on February 15, 1910. A lifting rod 61 is connected to the catch and to one arm of a bell crank lever 62, the other arm of this bell crank lever being connected to a push rod 63 slidable within a guide 64:. This push rod has a small Wheel or roller 65 connected to its free end, the said wheel bearing constantly against the periphery of a supplemental drum 66. This drum is keyed or otherwise secured to a shaft 67, one end of which is screw threaded, as shown at 68 and engages a screw threaded bearing 69. The other end ofthe shaft is feathered within a tubular shaft 70 to which is secured a small gear 71 meshing with the gear 50.

The rotation of this supplemental or auxiliary drum 66 is coincident with that of the winding drums and the various parts are so mounted and proportioned that, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, during every two inches of cage travel, the periphery of the supplemental drum will move through approximately inch. The periphery of the drum 66 is formed with openings adjacent each side of the drum and secured in these openings are tappets or buttons 72.

This arrangement of buttons adjacent opposed sides of the drum is necessary where there are two or more revolutions of the drum during the travel of the cage from one extreme of its path of movement to the other extreme. \Vhere one or less than one rotation of the drum 66 is necessary during the travel of the cage from one end to the other of the shaft, the buttons 72 will be placed in the same plane of movement and 75- the threaded portion of the shaft 67 will be dispensed with.

The operation of the mechanism is as follows :-Let it be assumed that the cage is at the top of the shaft and it is desired to lower it. While the cage is in its raised position, the levers 31 and 37 are in their neutral positions and the links 26 and 27 of each pair are horizontal. Consequently the valve mechanism shown in Figs. 7 and 8, and which is controlled by lever 31, is locked and the piston 20 is thrust forward by the pressure of steam thereagainst sothat the arm 16 is shifted to bind the brake band 8 upon the wheel 6 and hold the drums 2 against rotation. The valve mechanism shown in Fig. 14 and which is controlled by lever 37 will, when said lever 37 is in its neutral position, be positioned as shown in said Fig. 14 with pressure removed from the piston 77. \Vhile the two levers 31 and 37 are in their intermediate or neutral positions, one ofthe springs 45 on each rod M will be hearing against the adjacent eye 43, to hold the levers 31 and 37 against any movement that would start the engine without reversing it, unless the operator should pull against the springs with sufficient force to partly compress them in order that he might additionally raise the loaded cage to a slight extent before starting it downwardly. By now disengaging the levers 31 and 37 from their neutral positions it will. be noted that without the exercise of extreme force, the said levers can only be moved in one direction, this being due to the resistance offered by the springs 15 contacting with the eyes 43. The direction in which the levers are free to move readily is such as will cause the valves 23 and 23 and the valves con trolling pistons 76 and 77 to be reversed. Thus when lever 31 is shifted the piston 20 controlled thereby will be shifted away from the position shown in Fig. 8 by the. steam so as to release arm 16 and permit the bands 8 to release the wheel 6. lVhen the lever 37 is shifted, thevalves controlled thereby will be moved so as to cause the piston 7 7 under the control thereof to actuate the steam valve and cause the engine 5 to drive the winding drums in a direction opposite to that in which they have previously moved. Consequently the cage will descend. During the rotation of the drums and shaft 1, motion will be transmitted through the the shaft (37 will be train of gears to the rack bar 47 and this rack bar will beshifted slowly in the direction of its length so that the rods 41 will slide within the eyes 13. As the descending cage approaches the lower limit of its movement, one of the springs 45 on each rod llwill come against the eye 43' in the path thereof and cause the lever connected to saideye to gradually push away from its end position. The two levers 31 and 37 will be operated simultaneously in this manner. As lever 31 moves toward its neutral position, the valves 93 and 23' controlled thereby will be gradually opened and the piston 20 under the control of valve 23 will be gradually shifted so as to apply the brake bands 8 and cause the cage to come to a gradual stop. it the same time lever 37. during its movement toward neut al position, will gradually actuate the valves controlling pistons 76 and 77 so that the reversing links of the engines will be actuated and the supply of steam gradually cut off just as lever 37 reaches its neutral position. Drum 66 is constantly rotating during the rotation of the drums 2 and the buttons 79. on the drum are so positioned and said drmn is so mounted that. when the cage has reached the maximum limit of its movement, one of these. buttons will strike the wheel or roller 65 and shift the push rod 63 longitudinally, thus lifting latch 60 out of engagement with rod 58 and causing the bar 56 to drop. (lonsequently pin 57 will fall downwardly within the tapered eyes 36. thereby shifting the levers 3i and 37 simultaneously and causing them to operate the valve mechanisms through the rods 30 and 43. This sudden shifting of the levers 31 and 37 will result in the quick application of the brake and prompt cutting off of steam from the engines.

In the structure illustrated, 'it is designed to have the drum 66 rotate several. times during the descent of the cage. Thus it will be seen that as shafts and (37 rotate, shifted longitudinally by means of its threaded engagement with the bearing 69 and, consequently, drum 66 will be moved laterally until, during its final rotation, the button at one side of the drum will engage the wheel or roller 65 and shift the push rod 63. As before pointed out, the rotation of the drum (i6 is accurately timed relative to the movement of the cage so that the tripping action will only be effected when the cage reaches either predetermined limit of its movement.

Attention is called to the fact that when the lever 31 is in its neutral position, the links 26 and 27 are horizontal and the valves 23 and 23 are open so that pressure is thus applied to one face of the piston 20. lVhen lever 31 is moved in one direction away from neutral position, the links 26 and 27 break down 'ardly so as to shift the valves to relieve the piston :20 of such pressure and to reverse the movement of the piston, thereby to release the brake. ll'hen the links break upwardly, the same action is obtained.

Men are often lowered into a shaft from a surface landing some distance below the tipple landing. on an empty cage. the other cage being empty also. ioth ot the levers 31 and 37 are at this time free to move in either direction but should they be accidentally thrown in the wrong direction and steam applied to the engine, the cage could only be hoisted slowly toward the tipple. landing. at which point it will he brought to a sate stop autonnitically by means of the mechanism herein described, thus avoiding injury to the persons in the cage. l sually a cage tull of men will drop otitselt' and pull the engine without the use of steam and with the levers in either active position. In such cases the. automatic brake and reverse action will bring the ca e to a stop before it reaches the bottom ot the shaft. Consequently it will be necessary for the to apply steam to the engine in order to operator get the cage entirely to the bottom landing slowly and easily.

It is to be understood that the retarding mechanism acts autonnitically in moving the two levers simultaneously toward. their neutral or central positions from opposite. points alternately during alternate hoists.

It is 11((3055211') that the hoist operator manually move these sitions to the levers from the neutral popoints opposite to those from which they were drawn during the previously completed, hoist toset the mechanism in position For tl'ie 'lollowing hoist, this being due to the fact that the springs -15 prevent him from moving the levels in any other direction. i

It will be noted that the mechanism does not depend for its success of operation upon the springs -l-3 as these are used only to permil: the operator to hold one or both levers open against the action ot the automatic mechanism. thereby to etlect a landing when the cage has not been brought to the proper level.

It is to be understood that the emergency trip is not to operate at the termination of each hoist. It is presumed that. the hoist engineer by closing his throttle at the proper time and by having the proper adjustments of the various movements, will bring his engine to astop at the proper dumping point atthe termination of the hoist tlllbu or four inches from the point where the apparatus is set for stopping automatically in case the engineer does not stop the hoist.

A lever 37 is provided, as shown in F ig. 13 for operating the brake manually inde pendently ot' the steam apparatus but it will apparatus acting through one of the auxilable into alinement. when the lever to either end position,

. iary engines.

hat is claimed is z- 1. The combination with drums for winding cage supporting cables, a brake, and pressure actuated means for applying the rake, of a brake lever movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, valve mechanism operated by the lever for controlling the brake applying means, said mechanism including links movlever is in neutral position to apply the brake, links being adapted to break upwardly or downwardly during the movement of the thereby to release the brake, and speed reducing means operating in timed relation with the drums for gradually moving the lever to neutral position during thelast portion of a predetermined movement of the cage.

2. The combination with drums for winding cage supporting cables, a brake, and pressure actuated means for applying the brake, of a brake lever movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, valve mechanism operated by the lever for controlling the brake applying means, said mechanism including links movable into alinement when the lever is in neutral position to apply the brake, said links being adapted to break upwardly or downwardly during the movement of the lever .to either'end position, thereby to release the brake, a rack, speed reducing means operating with the drums for actuating the rack, and means operated by said rack for gradually shifting the lever from either end position to its neutral or active position during the last portion of the up or down movement of the cage.

3. The combination withdrums for winding cagesupporting cables, a brake, and pressure actuated means for applying the brake, of a brake lever movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, valve mechanism operated by the lever for controllingthe brake applying means, said mechanism including links movable into alinement when the lever is in neutral position to appl the brake, said links being adapted to break upwardly or downwardly during the movement of the lever to its end position, to release the brake, a rod slidably engaging the lever, speed reducing means operating in timed relation with the drums for shifting the rod, and means upon the rod for engaging and actuating said lever to move said lever to neutral position during the completion of each upward or downward movement of the cage.

4:. The combination. with drums for winding cage supporting cables, a brake, and pressure actuated means for applying the brake, of a brakelever movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, valve mechanism operated by the lever for controlling the brake applying means, said mechanism including links movable into alinement when the lever is in neutral to apply the brake, said links being adapted to break upwardly or downwardly during the movement of the lever to its end position, to release the brake, a rod slidably engaging the lever, speed, reducing means operating in timed relation with the drums for shifting the rod tor engaging and actuating said lever to move during the movement of the cage, a take-up lever, and means operated by said take-up lever r'or for wear upon the brake.

5. The combination with drums for winding cage supporting cables, of pressure operated reverse gear operating means, valve mechanism for controlling the operation of said means, a lever movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, a connection between the lever and the valve mechanism, and means operating in timed relation wit the drums for shifting the lever to neutral position, thereby to gradually stop the engine through the action of the reverse gear, during the latter portion of each up or down movement of the cage.

6. The combination with drums for winding cage supporting cables, trolling valve, of a shifting lever movable to either of two tral position, means operated thereby for actuating the valve, said means being movable by the lever when moved to neutral position, to bring the valves into inactive positions, and being shiftable during the movement of the lever to either end position to shift the valves into active position, and means operating in timed relation with the drums for automatically shifting the lever out of either active position and to its neutral position during of each upward or downward movement 0 the cage.

7 The combination with ing cage supporting cables, and engine con trolling valves, of a lever movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, means moved by the lever when move to neutral position, to bring the valves into inactive positions, and during the movement of the lever to either end position to shift the valves out of inactive position, and means operating in timed relation with the drum for automatically shifting the lever out of either end position and to its neutral position during the latter portion of each upward or downward movement of the cage,

drums for windan engine conthe latter portion 1 position, a rod slidably engaging the lever,

means operating in timed relation-with the drum for actuating the rod, andmeani' upon the rod for engaging and shifting the lever during the latter portion of the movement i of the cage in either an upward or-downward direction, thereby to shift the lever to its'neutr'al position and gradually shift the valves to actuate the reverse gear and stop the engine 9. The combination with drums for winding cage supporting cables, a brake, pressure actuated means for applying the brake, and

pressure actuated engine reverse gear controlling means, of separate levers, valve mechanism operated by each lever for controlling the respective pressure actuated means, each lever being movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, and means operating in timed rela-- tion with the drums for simultaneously shifting the levers from their end to their neutral positions, thereby to gradually apply the brake and gradually stop the engine during the latter portion of each upward or downward movement of the-cage.

10. The combination with drums for winding cage supporting cables, abrake, pressure actuated means for applying the brake, and pressure actuated engine reverse gear controlling means, of separate levers, valve mechanism operated by each lever for controlling the respective pressure actuated means, each-lever being movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, a rod slidably engaging each lever, means operating in timed relation with the drums for simultaneously shifting the rods relative to the levers, and means upon each rod for engaging the adjacent lever and shifting it from its end to its neutral posi-- tion during the latter portion of each upward or downward movement of the cage.

11. The combination with drums for winding cage supporting cables, a brake pressure actuated means for applying the brake, and pressure actuated engine reverse gear controlling means, of separate levers, valve mechanism operated by each lever for controlling the respective pressure actuated means, eachlever being movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, a rod slidably engaging each lever,

means operating in timed relation with the drums for simultaneously shifting the rods relative to the levers, and means upon each rod for engaging the adjacent lever and shifting it from its end to its neutral position during the latter portion of each upward or downward movement of the cage, said rods and the means thereon being adapted to lock the levers against movement from their neutral positions back to the end positions previously occupied.

12. The combination with drums for winding cage supporting cables, a brake, pres sure actuated means for applying the brake, and pressure actuated engine reverse gear controlling means, of separate levers, valve mechanism operated by each lever for controlling the respective pressure actuated means, each lever being movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, a rod slidably engaging each lever, means operating in timed relation with the drums for simultaneously shifting the rods relative to the levers, and means upon each rod for engaging the adjacent lever and shifting it from its end to its neutral position during theilatter portion of each upward or downward movement of the cage, said means upon the rod being yieldable to permit a slight return movement of each lever after being brought to neutral position but preventing return of each lever to the end position previously occupied.

13. The combination with drums for winding cage supporting cables, a brake, pressure actuated means for applying the brake, and pressure actuated engine reverse gear controlling. means, of separate levers, valve mechanism operated by one of the levers for controlling the brake applying means, valve mechanism operated by the other lever for controlling the means operated in timed relation with the drums for automatically shifting the levers from either end position to their neutral position thereby to gradually actuate the valve mechanisms to gradually apply the brakeand gradually stop the engine during the latter portion of each upward or downward movement of the cage, and supplemental stop mechanism including a latch supporting member, means carried thereby and loosely engaging the levers, a supplemental drum, means for rotating said drum during the rotation of the winding drums, andmeans operated by the supplemental drum after a predetermined amount of rotation for releasing the latch supported member to shift the levers simultaneously to neutral positions.

14. The combination with a threaded shaft, a supplemental drum secured thereto and revoluble therewith, and a shaft section slidably engaged by and revoluble with the threaded shaft, of drums for winding cage engine controlling means,

supporting cables, means connected to the drums for rotating the said shaft section and the threaded shaft, thereby to rotate the supplemental drum and shift it laterally, a a valvecontrolling lever movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, said lever having a tapered opening, a latch supported member, means thereon and projecting into the opening, and means operio ated by the supplemental drum at a predetermined point during its rotation, for releasing said latch supported means to shift the lever from either of its end positions to its neutral position. v

15. The combination with a supplemental drum mounted for rotation, and means for feeding the drum laterally during such rotation, of drums for winding cage supporting cables, means operable with the winding drums for driving the supplemental drum, an engine controlling lever, said lever being movable to either of two end positions and a neutral position, and means operated by the supplemental neutral position at a predetermined point during the rotation of the supplemental drum.

16. The combination with a supplemental drum and spaced projections adjustably connected to the periphery thereof, of drums for winding cage supporting cables, means operable with the winding'drums for rotating the supplemental drum, means for feeding the supplemental drum laterally during its rotation, an engine controlling lever, said lever movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, and means operated by said projections on the supplemental drum when the supported cage reaches either of two predetermined positions, for shifting the lever to its neutral position from either end position.

2 17. The combination witha supplemental drum, and projections adjustably mounted on the periphery thereof, of drums for winding cagesupporting cables, means operable with the winding drums for actuating the supplemental drum, a brake lever, an engine controllinglever, each of said levers being movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, and means operated by the projections when the supported cage is brought to either of two limits of movemerit, for simultaneously shifting the levers from either of their end positions to their neutral positions.-

18. The combination with a supplemental drum, and projections adjustably mounted so on the periphery thereof, of drums for winding cage supporting cables, means operable with the winding drums for actuating the supplemental drum, a brake lever, an engine controlling lever, each of said levers being movable to either of two end posidrum for shifting said 25 lever from either of its end positions to its tions and to a neutral position, means op erated by the projections when the supported cage is brought to either of two limits of movement, for simultaneously shifting the levers from either of their end posi- 7o last portion of each upward or downward movement of the supported cage.

19. The combination with a supplemental drum, and projections adjustably mounted on the periphery thereof, of drums for winding cage supporting cables, with the winding drums for actuating the supplemental drum, a brake lever, an engine controlling lever, each of said levers being movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, the projections when the supported cage is brought to either of two limits of movement, for simultaneously shifting the levers from either of their end positions to their neutral positions, and means operated by said supplemental drum actuating means for bolding the levers against movement from their neutral positions back to their previously occupied end positions.

20. The combination with drum, and projections adjustably mounted on the periphery thereof, of drums for winding cage supporting cables, means operable with the winding drums for actuating the supplemental drum, a brake lever,

engine controlling lever, each of said levers being movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, means operated by the projections when the supported cage is brought to either of two movement, for simultaneously shifting the lovers fromeither of their end positions to their neutral position, and means operated bv said supplemental drum actuating means holding the levers against movement from their neutral positions back to the pre viously occupied end positions, said means being yieldable to permit a limited backward movement of the levers.

21. The combination with a cable winding drum and an engine controlling lever, said lever being movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, of means operating with the drum, and means means operable so means operated by a supplemental 5 limits of operated by said speed reducing means for 12 gradually shifting the lever from either of its end positions to its neutral position during the latter portion of each downward or upward movement of the cable, said lever shifting means operating to hold the lever a ainst movement from its neutral position b I o u back to the end position previously occupied.

22. The combination with a cable winding drum and an engine controlling lever,

said lever being movable to either of two end positions and to a neutral position, of means operating with the drum, and means operated by said speed reducing means for 5 gradually shifting the lever from either of its end positions to its neutral position during the latter portion of each downward or upward movement of the cable, said lever shifting means operating to hold the lever 10 against movement from its neutral position back to the end position previously occupied but being yieldable to permit a slight return movement of the lever after being brought to neutral position. I

In testimony that I claim the foregoing 15 as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

DANIEL F; LEPLEY. Vitnesses Eons WV. DICK, BYRON PORTER. 

